DRAFT TIPS
| 8 | THE HOCKEY NEWS ULTIMATE FANTASY POOL GUIDE 2019-
AGE
There was a time when you
started noticing a player’s age
when he hit 30. Then it was 32,
and now it’s probably closer
to 35. Better training and im-
proved nutrition, along with
the incentive to earn big bucks,
mean players can play longer.
That’s the logic, anyway, but
the numbers don’t support it.
There are actually fewer older
players in the NHL today. Even
with four more teams than in
1998-99, there were 18 fewer
players 35 or older.Today, it’s not necessarily the
player’s age but his age in rela-
tion to his salary. Older players
generally want more money or
earn more money from long-
term contracts, and teams can’t
afford to pay it and want it off
the books.
An example from last season
is Patrick Marleau. There’s no
way at 39 he was worth $6.
million or should ever have
been signed to that big of a con-
tract. But ignore the salary, and
he was a decent addition to the
Maple Leafs. Otherwise he was
an anchor, and they had to trade
him to Carolina, where he was
bought out.
On the other hand, look at
somebody like Zdeno Chara.
One of the best NHL defense-
men of all-time, Chara turns 43
this season, but his contract is a
reasonable $2 million. So, that’s
an indicator some older players
are learning their value is based
on their salary, and Chara is
worth it at that price.GOALIES
It wasn’t long ago that ‘The
Hamburglar,’ Andrew Ham-
mond, burst onto the scene
with a 20-1-2 record for Otta-
wa, and it wasn’t long after that
he faded into oblivion. MADDIE
MEYER/GETTYIMAGESEUROPEANS
It used to be that if a Euro-
pean player was signed and
crossed the pond, it was pretty
much a given he was going
to play in the NHL. Why else
would he come over? No longer.
Teams don’t lock themselves
into that scenario. The playerH
OCKEY-POOL PEOPLE HAVE
never been politically
correct. It’s always
been about the re-sults, no matter how we got
there or who we offended.
At one time, we had to be
wary of drafting Europeans in
pools. They didn’t always as-
similate easily into the NHL.
There were questions about
the longer schedule and their
durability, adaptability to the
language and culture and how
intimidation might affect their
play. In the 1998-99 Ultimate
Pool Guide we noted, “Scoring
by Europeans is more unpre-
dictable than by North Ameri-
cans. That is an assumption
born of statistical analysis, not
xenophobia.”
Times change. We’re not
even hockey-pool people any-
more, we’re hockey-fantasy
people, and picking Europeans
is no longer a negative con-
sideration. Some of us have
been at it a long time, but that
doesn’t mean we’re old school.
Quite the opposite. We have
to change with the times to be
successful, and we must have
the ability to recognize when
and what to change. So, what’s
different and what’s the same?
Let’s take a look.has to prove himself, which of-
ten means a stint in the AHL.
They make it or don’t make it
on their own merit.
Nowadays, there’s an advan-
tage for NHL teams picking Eu-
ropeans in the draft in that they
don’t always have to make a de-
cision about returning them to
junior for the year if they don’t
make the team right away. May-
be they get sent to the AHL and
then called back up if there’s an
injury or if they’re playing well,
which can’t happen with junior
players. At worst, they return to
play in Europe, which doesn’t
hurt their development.ROOKIES
Picking rookies for your fan-
tasy team has always been a
crapshoot, but we’ve learned a
few things along the way.
The prodigies are no prob-
lem, but there aren’t Connor
McDavids every year. We can
write down Jack Hughes and
Kaapo Kakko as sure things this
season, but that’s about it from
the 2019 draft, and we’re not as
likely to gamble.
We picked Vancouver’s Elias
Pettersson to be the top rookie
scorer last season, and he was.
But he didn’t jump directly to
Ȃβ
in 2017, then tore up the Swed-
ish League in 2017-18 – so we
had more information on him
as he became more seasoned,
making him an easy choice.
We didn’t have Ottawa’s
Brady Tkachuk as the second-
highest rookie scorer, because
he didn’t rip it up at Boston Uni-
versity. Based on his last name,
perhaps we shouldn’t have un-
derestimated him.
One of our top rookie op-
tions for 2019-20, Sam Steel,
started out in the minors last
year before getting his shot in
Anaheim and showing he be-
longed – while maintaining his
rookie eligibility. He might have
made it sooner, but it illustrates
another difference in today’s
game. Sometimes a team just
doesn’t have room for a rookie
based on salary considerations
and commitments. It’s not al-
ways a matter of talent.
Best bets: Europeans who weCHANGING WITH
THE TIMES
We can’t prepare for pools like we used to. We’re bombarded
with misconceptions and myths BY MURRAY TOWNSEND
know are coming, top-drafted
college players turning pro and
graduating juniors who have
high scoring stats.ZDENO
CHARAYEAR TEAMS # OF PLAYERS
2018-19 Players aged 35+ 31 48
1998-99 Players aged 35+ 27 66